29 April 2023 , 16:41
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A dad has been sentenced to death for beating his wife to death with a metal baseball bat before strangling his two stepsons and drowning his two biological daughters.
This comes five months after vile Michael Wayne Jones Jr. pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the children’s deaths and one count of second-degree murder in wife Casei Jones’ death.
According to court documents, officers went to the family home in September 2019 to conduct a welfare check on Casei and the children after Casei's mum Nikki Jones became concerned.
Ms Jones said she had not heard from her daughter or the grandchildren in weeks and was “concerned that Michael Jones had done something to them.”
Casei Jones was killed with a metal baseball bat (WFTV9)Deputies arrived at their Florida home but found it seemingly vacant.
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Once inside though they “detected the foul odour of decomposition” and a crime scene was established.
The suspect was arrested after he crashed his car. When police arrived he admitted killing his wife and told them the body was in the vehicle he was driving.
He later confessed to killing the children and led detectives to where he hid the remains. .
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said police questioned Jones after Casei's body was found.
The four children Jones killed (WFTV9)He led them to the remains of the four children Aiyana, one; Mercalli Jones, two; Preston, five; and Cameron Bowers, 10, near Brantley County in Georgia.
On Friday Marion County Circuit Court Judge Anthony Tatti ordered Jones be executed by the state.
Jones was sentenced to death for each of the four children’s murders. The judge also sentenced Jones to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering Casei.
Following Friday’s nine-minute hearing, attorneys representing Jones said they had already filed paperwork with the court to appeal the sentence.
Jones hears his sentence in court (WFTV9)“[I]n the following weeks, detectives believe he killed the two oldest children by strangulation and his two youngest children by drowning them,” the sheriff’s office said at the time.
Police also stated that he left the bodies in the home for a few weeks before placing them in his van. Rather than dealing with them then he kept them in the van for two weeks before taking them to Brantley County, Georgia.
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Before the bodies were found Nikki Jones told Fox35 : "I've never ever been so scared.
"They don't know where she's at. They went to the house and she's gone. The house is empty.
"Casei is my baby, she was my last one. I don't want anything to have happened to her."
When asked about her grandchildren, she said: "They're my whole world, just like my kids. I don't know what I would do without any of them.
"I want them home safe."